Free Birds (2013)

November 1, 2013

November 1, 2013

Free Birds is a 2013 American animated Thanksgiving science fiction comedy film directed by Jimmy Hayward, who co-wrote the screenplay with the film's producer Scott Mosier. The film stars the voices of Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, and Amy Poehler, with supporting roles by George Takei, Colm Meaney, Keith David, and Dan Fogler. The film follows Reggie and Jake, two turkeys who time travel back to the first Thanksgiving in 1621 to get their kind off the menu.

Free Birds was produced by Reel FX Creative Studios as its first theatrical fully animated feature film, and Relativity Media's fourth animated film after Monster House, The Tale of Despereaux, and 9. Originally titled Turkeys, and scheduled for 2014, the film was released on November 1, 2013.

Free Birds received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $110 million worldwide against a $55 million budget. The film was nominated for the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in a Feature Production.

Despite its poor reception, the film has gained a cult following in later years.

Storyline

Reggie is a turkey who has always feared Thanksgiving because turkeys are always on the menu, but his attempts to warn his flock have made him an outcast. When the other turkeys finally realize what is happening, they throw Reggie outside in an attempt to save themselves. To his surprise, he is named the "pardoned turkey" by the President of the United States and is taken to Camp David. Reggie soon eases into a routine of doing nothing but enjoying pizza from the "Pizza Dude" and watching Mexican telenovelas.

Reggie is kidnapped by Jake, a member of the Turkey Freedom Front, who says he has been instructed by "The Great Turkey" to take Reggie and go back in time to the first Thanksgiving to get turkeys off the menu. They steal a time machine controlled by an A.I. named S.T.E.V.E. (Space Time Exploration Vehicle Envoy) from a Government facility, and time-travel back to three days before the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Once there, they are ambushed by colonial hunters led by Myles Standish, and are rescued by native turkeys led by Chief Broadbeak and his two children, Ranger and Jenny.

Broadbeak explains that turkeys have been forced underground since the settlers came, and orders Jake and Ranger to spy on the settlers while Reggie and Jenny spring the humans' hunting traps. Ranger and Jake discover that the settlers have already begun preparations for Thanksgiving, and where they keep their weapons.

Jenny is unconvinced Reggie is from the future, but is impressed with his accidental unorthodox way of springing traps. They are intercepted by Standish, and Reggie sends Jenny into orbit aboard the time machine, validating his story. Reggie asks Jenny to go back to the future with him once everything blows over, but she refuses to leave the flock no matter how much she likes him.

Jake tells Reggie he has a plan to attack the settlers, and that this trip was more about him making up for his failure to save turkey eggs while escaping a factory farm when he was young, maintaining that the Great Turkey convinced him to go through with this. Reggie reluctantly goes along with the plan. They blow up the weapons shack, but Jake inadvertently leaves a gunpowder trail back to the turkeys' hideout. Standish and his men flush the turkeys out from underground, capturing enough for the feast.

Broadbeak sacrifices his life to help the remaining turkeys escape. Disgraced, Reggie returns home, where he discovers from S.T.E.V.E. and three alternate versions of himself that he is the Great Turkey. He travels back in time to send the young Jake on his mission. Jenny is sworn in as the new chief and orders the remaining turkeys to prepare an attack on the settlers.

Jenny, Jake and Ranger lead the turkeys in an attack on the settlement just as Chief Massasoit and his tribe arrive. Reggie goes back in time to stop the attack, inadvertently trapping Standish in the time stream. Through S.T.E.V.E. and the Pizza Dude, Reggie convinces the settlers and Native Americans that pizza is a more acceptable food than turkeys, taking turkeys off the Thanksgiving menu entirely. Reggie stays with Jenny while Jake takes S.T.E.V.E. to look for new adventures.

In the mid-credits, Jake returns in S.T.E.V.E. moments after leaving Reggie and Jenny. With a chicken and a duck in his wings, Jake starts to tell the turkeys about the turducken.

Also See

Movie Trailer

  • Free Birds (2013) (Trailers)

Sound Effects Used

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Audio Samples

External Links